They were 8 as they set out, the Sorcerer Ludwig Andros, the southron fighter Vitus, Derek the archer in mail, and John Longfingers the thief, and with them 4 good fighting men. In town, Vitus had cleaned the shield he had found on the elven corpse, and found it to be a shield of superb … More [Actual Play] Keep on the Borderlands Pt. IX; Total Party Kill
[Adventure]Dark Tower (1979)Paul Jaquays [0] (Judges Guild)Lvl 7 – 11 Alright. It’s time. I’ve done my push ups. Its time for one of the big ones. This is about as close as we get to the absolute zenith of old DnD short of Gygax himself. After some initial fan publications, Paul Jaquays and the chaps … More [Review] Dark Tower (AD&D 1e 3PP); Summa Coom Laude
Taking Gorthak’s bloody head, our heroes moved northward and scoured the caverns for the Chieftain’s valuables. They first came upon a great storeroom, filled to the brim with crates of dried and salted foodstuffs, and casks and kegs of wine and ale. Gothmog the Bugbear was granted his share in the form of ample catnip, … More [Actual Play] Keep on the Borderlands VIII (LL); Loose ends
Dungeoneer 10 is, all things considered, a trash issue. The first third of the zine is taken up by fiction, an immediate skip, followed by a variant skill system that covers 8 pages, another immediate skip, and a half page on using the Anti-paladin and the Ogre, good stuff then, depressing war stories now. The … More [Review] The Dungeoneer 10 & 11 (OD&D); Duds
[Adventure] The Trials of Ngura (2020) Morten Braten (Xoth.net) Lvl 3 – 4 Disclaimer: Sponsored content Something something something for all the promises of S&S something something something actual number is low something something this is an exception. Dr. Braten strikes again. A glancing blow that still achieves the impossible of making 5e feel like its gritty S&S fantasy. … More [Review] The Trials of Ngura (5e); Met de hakken over de sloot
And so it was that our heroes once again sallied out into the Wilderlands, to assail the dreaded Caverns of Chaos. Late summer had come to the Borderlands, and with it a caravan bearing supplies, a disheveled handful of legion recruits, and with them eager fighting men in search of gold and glory. Also with … More [Actual Play] B2 Keep on the Borderlands VII; The fall of Gorthok the Impaler
[Adventure]Holy Mountain Shaker (2021)Luka Rejec (Necrotic Gnome Press)Lvl 5 – 6 Following the recommendation of a loyal reader by the name of Shuffling Wombat, I did indeed purchase one of Mr. Rejecs modules and see if/how his stance on gaming impacts his actual writing. In many ways it does; Holy Mountain Shaker is not something … More [Review] Holy Mountain Shaker (OSE); While the Iron is Hot
[Adventure]The Dying Sword (2017)Unbalanced Dice GamesMid Level (4-6?) Back to the trenches. Unbalanced Dice Games is a weird outsider designer who makes experimental adventures mostly devoid of genre conventions with a minimum of layout and presentation and a conversational writing style but with a maximum of creativity. Unlike many others cursed with creativity, his grasp … More [Review] The Dying Sword (LL); Boss Fight
A reader linked me to a recent article by UVG author, 3rd generation Artpunkman and indie darling Luka Rejec, wherein he attempts to cope with what appears to be a perfectly reasonable if subjective and very negative commentary on his latest game by outlining his philosophy: It appears no one runs games as written! This … More That is why you fail – An analysis of the corrosive effect of Artpunkmanry in the essay ‘Never As Written’ by Luka Rejec
Age of Dusk 